Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Chor Bird Boogie Woogie

John, over at the SF Examiner web site has written a lovely article about Chor Boogie. He was the artist who was stabbed while working on a mural in one of our more down scale areas. He's recovered and back on the job, creating, among other things, beautiful murals to brighten up some of San Francisco's blighted areas.

"Chor discovered art at the age of five when, with paint brush in hand, he declared to his kindergarten teacher, “When I grow up I am going to be an artist.“ He drew his first meaningful inspiration, though, from seeing wall art on aqueducts and other structures near his boyhood home. Immediately recognizing the seriousness of the work, and able to distinguish art from regular graffiti, Chor set about to follow the more artistic roots of what he saw. But it hasn’t always been an easy road. And with society’s uneven impression of spray paint art, sometimes it’s been an uphill struggle.

“My first painting was actually in my bedroom,” recalled Chor in a recent conversation. “My father wasn't going to let me go out there and do stuff like that, so my parents let me paint on the wall of my room. That's where my first creation came out.”

From there, Chor set out on a path of self-study that included not just contemporary masters, including street artists such as PHASE 2, Vulcan, and Apex, but also fine art masters including Gustav Klimt, Michelangelo, and Salvador Dali.

“With Gustav Klimt, I like his composition and the way you can see the feeling in his work,” explained Chor. “And I like the way he used gold, real gold, and silver. While I don't use real gold or silver, I do use gold, silver, bronze, copper and other metallic spray paints, which illuminate skin tones.”